We need to return our nation back to our foundational roots. Our country was founded to be a Democratic Republic and based on the economic foundation of Capitalism.
Nowadays Capitalism seems to have a negative connotation, mostly because of the vice of greed, however, to move our nation down the road of Socialism rather than seeking remedies from Capitalism is a slippery slope that ultimately leads to Communism.
As an American citizen I want my President to be the Executive head of our government as defined in the Constitution, not the CEO of General Motors, nor the chief financial sector regulator.
We have three co-equal branches of government:
Legisative power resides with the Congress,
Executive power resides with the President,
Judicial power resides with the Supreme Court.
When any branch oversteps its Constitutional bounds, the whole system that was designed to protect the lives, guarantee the liberty, and defend the peace of each citizen without predjudice is destabilized.
President Obama, let's be transparent and end the governmental bloating and growth that hinders that transparency and promotes ideologies that are quintessentially non-American.
Comments (20)
That's a nice attempt in the last paragraph to somehow relate your post to this site, and its purpose. But, really, what does any of that have to do with the purpose of this site?
"Our attitude is that any idea, respectfully presented, is a legitimate contribution to the site. Whether or not it is relevant to the discussion is for you to decide, which you can do by voting ideas up or down."
Excerpt taken from the Open Government Dialogue homepage.
Ultimately it is up to all of us who contribute to this community dialogue to decide what is appropriate or not.
This "idea" is relevant to transparency because Socialism and Communism ideologies are inherently non-transparent. I do not want our government to go down either of those paths which would hinder the transparency in government that we all desire.
I think any attempt to wrestle money, power and influence in government away from the corporate interests that have bought their way into government is a righteous path. Of course, those monied interests will use all the buzz words to get the focus off the real problem---them. socialism, communism...these are just words meant to scare the people from having the balls to take their country back.
when was the last time you contacted your legislator? how informed are you about what our country is doing in the middle east? do you truly believe that corporations have the best interests of the american people at heart?
my dearly departed father used to say,"when it comes to politics, it's all economics". in other words, you want to know what's up, follow the money trail.
rather than scare people off with words, why not focus on really transforming government with campaign finance reform and term limits for legislators. what we have in DC now is too many corporate career legislators...of both party. the people's work needs to be done and many of them are obstacles on that road.
a lion isn't a lion unless it roars. a democracy will not flourish unless it's citizens are engaged. transparency in government will only go so far. the people need to empower themselves by exerting themselves. our system can work, but the citizen needs to know that democracy is not a spectator sport.
"socialism, communism...these are just words meant to scare the people."
I do agree with you that the ideas behind Socialism and Communism are scary.
The written word is one of the best forms of communication that we have avaialable. It is unchanging and definitive once written. When you write something the words you use have specific meaning. A person shouldn't use words that don't mean what they are trying to communicate.
That is why our founders wrote the ideas behind the formation of our government into the specific words of the U.S. Constitution. That is also why they clarified for the world their intentions by writing down and promulgating the Declaration of Independence.
Here are the Webster's Dictionary definitons of both Socialism and Communism for reference:
Main Entry:so·cial·ism
Pronunciation:\ˈsō-shə-ˌli-zəm\
Function:noun
Date:1837
1: any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods
2 a: a system of society or group living in which there is no private property b: a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state
3: a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done.
Main Entry:com·mu·nism
Pronunciation:\ˈkäm-yə-ˌni-zəm, -yü-\
Function:noun
Etymology:French communisme, from commun common
Date:1840
1 a: a theory advocating elimination of private property b: a system in which goods are owned in common and are available to all as needed
2capitalized a: a doctrine based on revolutionary Marxian socialism and Marxism-Leninism that was the official ideology of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics b: a totalitarian system of government in which a single authoritarian party controls state-owned means of production c: a final stage of society in Marxist theory in which the state has withered away and economic goods are distributed equitably d: communist systems collectively.
Judge for yourself if you think that I used the words incorrectly.
I don't think anyone is very happy about the government bailouts, regardless of political party, and your dictionary definitions are laudable. Do I think we're living in a socialist country? No. These bailouts in themselves don't constitute socialism. It's a question of degree. We still live in a capitalist society, though it's somewhat wilted at the moment. And had the government not intervened in this instance, it would have been much worse. So take heart. Capitalism is still humming!
extremes in any philosophy results in hardship and problems. right now we are coming down from an extreme in the capital markets where there was absolutely no oversight or regulation. we relied on the goodwill of the corporations. the government cannot afford to place the people at such risk. they are supposed to defend us, not just from those who may invade our shores.
we know that the extreme of communism does not work. socialism is practiced in various parts of the world with varying degrees of success. we are at a crossroads to be sure. i think the market is broken and the government is trying to fix it. we shall soon see whose interests they are representing.
you know, our founders were wealthy men who wanted to keep what they owned. they were also elitists...please don't get pissed at that statement. our constitution is a document that has served us well, but it was written by men with an agenda that was imperfect. women and slaves were not equals. you had to own land to have a voice in government. let's face it, they wanted autonomy from the king more than democracy. democracy was an appeal to the colonists to support the founders. they (colonists) had something to gain...the principles outlined in the constitution and the bill of rights. it was a contract between the founders and the colonists and it has existed into the future and has served us well. interpreting the document is a dynamic process that must be carefully undertaken.
capitalism and democracy are at cross purposes with themselves, for capitalism gives power to those with capital and democracy recognizes the equality of all individuals. how we americans rectify these two philosophies will determine the peace and prosperity for our entire planet. it will help us to remember that we are all interdependent and we are all our brothers keepers.
How can we strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness by making government more transparent, participatory, and collaborative?
The above is the purpose of this site. This whole discussion has nada, nichevo, nothing to do with that purpose.
Why are you trying to muck up the works? What do you have against improving American government (something we need lots of, BTW)?
You forgot one important part of the government, the American Grand Jury! We have found obama guilty of both treason and fraud and are continuing the fight to remove this imposter american!
The Wall Street Wizards who bought your mortgages and pumped them into mega-buck were not allowed to loose their money when the balloon busted.
Someone cried "where's the beef" and we discovered there too few assets to back all that money they created.
Who get's bailed out? They did! That's socialism for the rich!
Every government has to have a mix of capitalism and socialism, to make it work.
Socialism should not reward people who don't want to work! Rich or Poor!
pajari,
The American Grand Jury? Are you a member of the Republic of Texas? Or one of those "Tax Courts" set up by tax protesters?
The American Grand Jury has no legal standing. It's another fantasy and fraud.
William M. Riggles,
I largely agree. The bailout is a perfect example of privatizing profits, while socializing risks. The money could have been used more effectively to jump start the economy in several other ways, generally aimed at the bottom of the economy, where the hurt is, instead of at the top, where the fault is. Mortgage assistance directly to the people paying mortgages would be one way.
There's even a proposal that I saw, where the government would offer a few million people nearing retirement a million apiece to retire early, provided that they either bought a new house or paid off their old one, and bought a new car. A few million new jobs opening up, a few million mortgages paid off, a few million new car orders. Wouldn't that jump start the economy!
Twitchy:
I suggest you go to americangrandjury.org and read up on the issue. It's apperant that you have no clue about the 4th branch of the governement.
As the original author of the idea, I encourage everyone's constructive comments, however, just ranting and flaming certain individuals benefits no one and just makes other visitors think we're all just "extremists" to be ignored.
Please do not flood this thread with unrelated comments or just flames.
The process here is simple, if you do not like the idea you have a chance to show your displeasure by voting it down. If you agree, vote it up.
Thanks to everyone who have voted thumbs up!
pajari,
I'm sorry, but putting up a website doesn't make their fantasies any more real. And selectively extracting portions of legal opinions out of context doesn't provide any real support.
cwvidaho,
I'm sorry, but what part of "How can we strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness by making government more transparent, participatory, and collaborative?" does your topic address? It's a political rant, admittedly more sane than most of the spam here, but it's still inappropriate for this site.
"How can we strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness by making government more transparent, participatory, and collaborative?"
Mr. Twitchy,
I'm sorry that you cannot see the relevance of this idea. Let me try to clarify it further. The idea that Socialism is not the answer to our nation's current issues is directly related to your question above as follows:
President Obama's administration since coming into office has made visible and definable strides to implement the ideals of Socialism in our country.
Socialism, as the first step on the road to Communism, is directly in opposition to Democracy thereby by implementing Socialism you weaken Democracy, not strengthen it.
In Socialism a strong centralized government takes direct control over aspects of the private sector, such as taking ownership of General Motors, Health Care, and the banking industry. The result of implementing these moves is that the people lose more and more control over the engines that drive our economy. When the people lose control and the government takes over, the result of this is the loss of individual liberties and ultimately our freedoms. The government begins to dictate to the people, not the other way around.
Further, as the centralized government gains more and more control it becomes less transparent, collaborative, and responsive to the will of the people. In the eyes Socialism, the government itself as an entity knows how to make your life better, not you - the individual citizen, so why should the you - the people - have the control?
Our nation was not founded on the principles of Socialism and Communism, but of Capitalism and Republicanism. Our nation has survived and prospered to become the greatest nation on this earth because we have traditionally stuck to our founding principles, not tried to change them.
I hope this answers your question now and the rest of us can move on to something more constructive.
Unless you have something more productive to add than to just whine that "this is irrelevant", please let others comment without your continued heckling and distractions.
Again, each of you has the power to vote this idea up or down. I'm not about to tell you how you should vote, but if you don't exercise your ability to vote, you give up your power to someone else.
It's till a political rant, with nothing to do with "making government more transparent, participatory, and collaborative". That's fine, but it's not appropriate for this site.
And it's not constructive to begin with.
Mr. Twitchy,
Since you continue to abuse this thread I have reported you for the abuse to the website administrators.
What? Twitchy is just trying to focus on what CAN be done instead of just ranting.
"President Obama, let's be transparent and end the governmental bloating and growth that hinders that transparency and promotes ideologies that are quintessentially non-American."-cwvidaho
That is the heart of what you are asking! Can you be more specific about this?
cwvidaho,
Are you sure you want to draw that much attention to YOUR abuse of this site?